


Secrets, Tattoos, and Carpet Burn

by WillaS



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s02e15 Threshold, Episode: s03e07 Sacred Ground, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Sex, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:47:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29197845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillaS/pseuds/WillaS
Summary: “Show me.”“Get lost,” she said, and giggled.“Please, Kathryn. Show me.”“No.”“I showed you mine,” he tried.“It’s on your face, mister.”“In the spirit of Prixin? Come on, Kathryn, you know I’ll just try to see you naked until the day I die now,” he said, and wanted to laugh, because Spirits, wasn’t that the truth already?
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway
Comments: 12
Kudos: 87





	Secrets, Tattoos, and Carpet Burn

**Author's Note:**

> This is set post Season 4.

He watched her from across the mess hall.  
She was in her civies, she looked relaxed, even, sipping at a mystery concoction Neelix made to celebrate Prixin, and talking to Tom Paris.  
He grabbed himself a drink and turned his attention back to her when he heard her laughter.  
He couldn’t help his own smile as he regarded her, head tilted back, and so genuinely amused at whatever Paris had just whispered in her ear.  
It wasn’t that Chakotay was jealous exactly at the way the captain so blatantly allowed Paris to tease her, but… Yes, there was always that but.  
As if on cue, he watched Tom lean into her, and whisper something in her ear that once again had her roaring with laughter.  
He decided to make his way over there. To hear whatever gossip Paris was in the process of sharing, not to crash the cosy twosome. Or so he told himself.  
“Good evening, Captain,” he said and nodded to her, then Tom.  
“Happy Prixin, Commander,” she said and raised her glass. “I’m sorry you missed Tuvok’s speech.”  
“It was very emotional,” Tom said, and the captain slapped his arm and chuckled.  
“I’m glad you’re having a nice time,” Chakotay said and looked first at her, then at Paris.  
“Mr Paris and I were reminiscing,” she said and proceeded to link arms with Tom.  
“Talking about the kids,” Paris said to Chakotay.  
At this, the captain actually snorted and buried her face in his shoulder, before peeling herself away from him, and giving him a friendly shove.  
“I thought we were never going to mention that again,” she said, and Chakotay wondered if she’d chosen to wear that tunic because she knew it made the blue in her eyes even bluer.  
“I’m not ashamed,” Paris said to her and clutched his chest dramatically.  
“You were.”  
“I was shocked, Captain,” he said. “There’s a difference.”  
“Yes, well, not as shocked as I was, I can assure you, Mr Paris.”  
“Not as shocked as we were,” Chakotay added and tugged on his ear.  
“Yeah, about that,” Paris said and looked Chakotay up and down. “I can’t believe you left our babies behind. The report said you chased them away, back into the swamp.”  
The captain elbowed Paris.  
“It did not say that. And I agree with the Commander’s decision on this. Besides, it’s a hundred years ago.”  
Paris raised his glass. “Happy Prixin,” he said. “To family. In its many forms.” He looked at the captain, and Chakotay could see that very specific glimmer in his eye that Paris only ever got when he was up to something.  
And then, Paris leant in and kissed the captain on her cheek, and Chakotay helplessly had to just stand there and watch her blush.  
He took a big gulp of his drink and wished he could tear his eyes from his captain and Tom bloody Paris, but he was absolutely mesmerized by them.  
“To the kids,” Tom said and raised his glass to the captain.  
She narrowed her eyes, trying to look stern, but Chakotay could see a smile tug at the corners of her mouth.  
“To the kids,” she said, and they clinked glassed and drank. “Are we going to bring up our little indiscretion every year now?”  
“Oh, I think so, Captain,” he said and looked around the mess hall. “Besides, it’s a good story.”  
“And one I’m sure you couldn’t have kept to yourself even if Chakotay and Tuvok hadn’t busted our reptilian butts.”  
Paris nodded in fake reverence.  
“But don’t worry, Captain. Your secret about the you-know-what is forever safe with me,” he said, then had the audacity to wink at her, before walking away and joining a group with Harry and B’Elanna.  
Chakotay turned his attention back to his captain who’d blushed crimson.  
He took a breath but—  
“Absolutely not, Commander,” she said.  
“I haven’t said anything.”  
“No, but you were about to, and I’m telling you not to.”  
“Well, Kathryn, all I was going to say was that you surprise me. I always knew you had a soft spot for Tom Paris, but I must have underestimated just how, well, can we say intimate you two have become over the years.”  
She scrutinized him, then shook her head.  
“Chakotay, for everyone’s sake I’m going to ignore what you’re suggesting, even if it is in jest.”  
“So, tell me. What’s the ‘you-know-what’?”  
“I already told you no.”  
“Come on.”  
“Captain’s privilege, Commander, I don’t have to tell you anything.”  
“I think I should know more about my captain than Lieutenant Paris.”  
“Well, this isn’t the captain’s secret, it’s Kathryn’s secret.”  
“I didn’t realize Mr Paris was privy to her secrets.”  
The captain rolled her eyes at him.  
“Right, Commander, I think it’s time I left our children to it,” and put down her glass. “Happy Prixin.”  
“Wait,” he said and gently grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to go. The crew love it when you mingle.”  
She smiled up at him with a warmth in her eyes that made his knees weak.  
“I’ll leave the mingling to you. Have fun.”  
“No, wait. Let’s have a nightcap instead then. Just you and me. Come on, it’s Prixin.”  
She looked down at their joined hands.  
“But you only just got here.”  
His face crinkled into a full-dimpled smile. “Well, Captain, as you said, they’re our children, so maybe we should both leave them to it.”  
She let go of his hand and he watched her look around to see if anyone had witnessed their brief show of affection.  
He ignored his irritation at this. Her concern hardly seemed fair, especially because, when Tom Paris had kissed, actually kissed, her cheek, she’d done nothing about it apart from blush outrageously.  
“Alright then. Yours or mine?” she asked, and he smiled and tugged his ear.  
“Depends on what’s in your secret stash,” he said, and she laughed.  
“Oh, there are a few surprises in it. I think I can probably find something suitable.”  
“After you, Captain,” he said, and she led the way out of the mess hall.

CJ

“Champagne,” she said, and handed him two empty glasses.  
“Well, it is Prixin,” he said.  
“Here we go.” She pulled on the cork and it released with a pop. She filled their glasses, then stood opposite him and raised hers. “Here’s to my secret stash.”  
“To your secret stash.”  
She kicked off her shoes and sat down.  
“And to your secrets,” he said and looked at her.  
And looked at her.  
She rolled her eyes at him yet again.  
“Chakotay, I’m not telling you.”  
“What if I say ‘please’?”  
“Then I’d say that your manners are, as always, impeccable, Commander.”  
“But?”  
“But there are things I can’t share with you.”  
“Can’t or won’t?”  
“A bit of both.”  
“But answer me this, Kathryn,” he said and leant forward and towards her. “How does Tom know?”  
She raised an eyebrow. “Let me just say he was in the right place at the right time. Or possibly in the wrong place at the wrong time, actually, now that I think about it. I ought to throw him in the brig.”  
Chakotay let his eyes drift from hers and out of the viewport. He loved these rare moments when it was just them. And all the children were happy. And no one was being shot at.  
Her contented sigh brought him back to the room, and she was sitting half reclined, with her head lying back. She was looking at the ceiling, and he allowed his eyes to roam over her face and linger.  
“Did you know that champagne and early morning sunshine make your skin blush in exactly the same way?” he asked and was prepared for her witty come-back.  
But it didn’t come.  
Instead, she turned her head slightly to meet his eyes.  
“I don’t spend a lot of time looking in the mirror these days,” she said quietly.  
He took a sip of his drink, so he had something to do. Then he looked at his hands, and back to her.  
“You’re still as beautiful as the first day I met you.”  
She allowed them that fraction of a second, that tiny moment in time to bask in what he was really saying, but before it could become anything apart from the lingering ache it was, she pulled herself together and sat cross-legged on her sofa, now facing him.  
“I see what’s happening, here, Commander,” she said, and the tone of her voice indicated that the moment was gone. “You think flattering me will make me reveal my secret to you. But let me tell you this: I’d only ever tell you, if I had dirt on you. And I don’t.”  
He laughed at that and refilled their glasses.  
“What makes you think you don’t have dirt on me?”  
“Do I?” she asked, and he could watch her clearly wrecking her brain. It made him smirk, wondering where her thoughts were taking her.  
“What do I know about you that no one else knows?” she mumbled and sipped her drink. “Is it something I read in your file? Or something I witnessed?”  
She looked at him, but he only shrugged, and drank his champagne.  
“Or something you said?” she enquired, watching him closely so not to miss a single expression that could give him away.  
He only smiled at her.  
“And when?” she asked, her eyes searching his.  
Spirits, he’d forgotten how much he loved how it killed her when she didn’t know something.  
“Chakotay, tell me, that’s an order,” she said in her sternest tone.  
He burst out laughing. “No way, Kathryn. You can’t play dirty like that.”  
“Chakotay, come on, spill it,” she begged, and then added an extra sweet: “Please,” that made him laugh so much he almost snorted out his mouth-full of champagne.  
She took a deep gulp out of her glass, emptying it, and poured them another.  
“I’ll remind you of mine if you tell me yours,” he offered.  
“Not fair!” she sulked.  
“I think it’s very fair.”  
“I disagree.”  
“Of course, you do. Unfortunately, that’s my only deal.”  
“But it’s not fair.”  
“Take it or leave it, Captain.”  
He looked at her looking at him, trying to stare him down, and it took a good ten seconds before he saw surrender in her eyes.  
“Alright,” she said. “But this does not leave this room. And you are not to discuss this with Lieutenant Paris. Ever. Or I will personally push you out of an airlock.”  
“Deal,” he said and leant back.  
“Okay,” she said, put down her glass and shook her head. “Of course, I’m telling you this, I’m intoxicated,” she mumbled.  
He only grinned at her.  
“Stop being so smug, Commander, before I change my mind.”  
She was still sitting cross legged, and he watched her straighten her spine, and roll her neck to the right then the left.  
“It happened on the Nechani homeworld,” she said. “You remember that awful business with Kes?”  
He nodded.  
“Remember how they painted my face?”  
His heart did a double beat at the memory.  
But she didn’t need to know what seeing her with that simple facial marking did to him.  
“Well, it turned out the ink they used to draw it on seeps under the skin, making it, well, permanent almost instantly. It took the doctor over an hour to remove the one on my face. And, well, there was, ehm, I mean there is. Well. They also drew one on my back, but it’s massive, and the doctor said it could take up to five hours to remove it, and I haven’t had five hours, so it’s still there, and Tom knows because he was in sick bay at the time, and, well, yes, so now you know.”  
He must have stopped breathing some time ago and now found himself gulping for air. His mouth was dry, his head hurt. The room was spinning. It must be the alcohol, he thought, or it could be that he was blind with rage about Tom Paris having gotten an eye-full of her naked back. Naked, tattooed back, he corrected himself, and emptied his glass in one big gulp.  
“Show me,” he said, and what in all hell was going on with his voice? He cleared his throat. “Show me.”  
“Get lost,” she said, and giggled.  
“Please, Kathryn. Show me.”  
“No.”  
“I showed you mine,” he tried.  
“It’s on your face, mister.”  
“In the spirit of Prixin? Come on, Kathryn, you know I’ll just try to see you naked until the day I die now,” he said, and wanted to laugh, because Spirits, wasn’t that the truth already?  
“Airlock, Commander,” she said, and they held each other’s gaze until she laughed.  
“Oh God, I shouldn’t have said anything. And why, after all these years, is Tom Paris still the biggest pain in my ass?” she muttered as she shifted on the sofa, stood up, turned her back to him, and lifted her tunic to reveal the Nechani markings.  
Chakotay couldn’t bring himself to say anything.  
He doubted his voice would have worked anyway.  
He got out of his chair and knelt behind her.  
“Wow,” he finally croaked and cleared his throat. “Kathryn, this is—”  
“Huge?”  
“And that,” he whispered. “May I touch it?”  
“Go ahead,” she said, and he could have sworn she shuddered when his fingertips ran over her soft, soft skin.  
“There doesn’t seem to be any scarring or damage at all. This is fascinating.” He traced the outlines and tried to breathe normally. His nose was in line with her lower back, and it would have been so easy to just—  
“To be honest,” she said. “I mostly forget it’s even there.”  
“It’s beautiful, Kathryn.”  
“Tom said it made me look like I was the First Wife of the Chief of the Lotarr,” she said, and Chakotay was glad for the image as it broke the tension he was feeling, at least for a second, and made them laugh.  
“Kathryn Janeway,” Chakotay said and ran his fingers over it again. “You went rogue in the Delta Quadrant. What will the admiralty think?”  
He put his hands on her hips and firmly held her in place.  
“I wonder if it has a specific meaning.”  
“Well, I suppose it does. For me.”  
“Is that why you haven’t had the doctor remove it?” he asked, and her skin was so close to his lips. He could feel her warmth, he could smell her. And he was breathless from it.  
“I told you,” she said, and maybe her vice was shaking, too. “I haven’t had the time to—.”  
“I know that’s what you told me. But what’s the truth?”  
He heard her exhale and then take a new breath.  
“Because I don’t want to forget what happened to me on that planet,” she whispered.  
“After all these years, how are you still so full of surprises,” he whispered back and swallowed hard to get rid of that sudden lump in his throat. “Please don’t ever stop.”  
Neither of them moved, and he tried to remember every inch of her skin, every detail of that magnificent tattoo before she’d cover it again.  
“Now remind me of the dirt I have on you,” she said, but the language didn’t match her tone, and he wondered if their proximity was getting to her, too.  
“Kathryn,” he started, and she turned around. He kept holding her by her hips and looked up into her eyes. If she looked flushed before, she now looked positively feverish, and he wondered how they got here and if maybe, it was a good idea to return to his quarters on the double.  
“We made a deal,” she whispered.  
“Is it too late for me to choose the airlock option?” he asked, and she smiled.  
He was mesmerised by her nearness and the fact that she let him kneel in front of her like this.  
She held his gaze mercilessly and he felt himself tremble.  
“It’s about what you said to me on New Earth, isn’t it?” she asked after a while of allowing that age old storm to rage in their gaze.  
“Yes,” he said. “When I told you that I was in love with you.”  
“That was a long time ago,” she said.  
“It’s still true.”  
She didn’t speak, but traced his tattoo with one finger.  
“I still think about New Earth,” he whispered.  
A smile hushed across her face. “Yeah, me too.”  
“Do you think we’d be husband and wife now if we’d stayed?” he asked.  
She smiled down at him, and without even a second’s hesitation she nodded.  
“Oh,” was all he said. Then he pushed her tunic up to reveal her stomach and he pulled her that forbidden inch closer and placed an open-mouthed kiss on her naked skin.  
And another.  
And another.  
Her hands brushed through his hair, and he felt her whole body shiver, and then she whispered a breathless “Oh God” into the universe.  
“Kathryn,” he mumbled, and her knees buckled, and then she was on the carpet, too, kneeling opposite him.  
“To hell with it all,” she said, and he was still starring at her in sheer disbelief, when she lunged forward and gave him a hungry, soul-shattering kiss that pulled at feelings so deep inside him that it hurt.  
She tasted of champagne and something a lot sweeter.  
When she pulled away, he didn’t let her go, but chased her mouth and engulfed her in another kiss which she also didn’t wait to commit to fully.  
“Kathryn,” he said and held her face between his hands. “We’ve been here before.”  
“I know.”  
“What do you want?”  
“This. You. Everything. But do you really still want it?”  
“Spirits, Kathryn,” he groaned and pushed her backwards to lie down. “I want to sleep with you, and I don’t ever want to sleep with anyone else. And you’re a damn fool if you don’t know that.”  
He pushed her tunic all the way up and she pulled it over her head and threw it in the general direction of the sofa.  
“I want to worship your body and give you pleasure,” he whispered against her collarbone. His hands gently caressed her breasts through the bra, and she moaned.  
“I want to make you come so hard that even the memory of your orgasm makes you blush and ache for me again.”  
She pushed his face down against her breast, and his tongue teased her nipple through the fabric.  
“You’re so very, very beautiful,” he murmured and gave the other nipple some attention.  
“Take it off,” she said, and he slid his hands under her to unclasp the bra. She threw is towards the sofa. “I want you Chakotay. Now. Here.”  
They got undressed awkwardly, but in seconds, and as he shed his socks, he wondered if he should suggest moving this to the bedroom, but then forgot all about it when he saw her lying there, wiggling out of her panties.  
He scooped her up in his arms and just held her.  
Ran his hands down her back and over her gorgeous ass and back up again.  
She was shaking and he looked at her.  
“You okay?”  
“Very,” she said and nodded. “I’m also very turned on.”  
“Join the club,” he said and pulled her even closer, trapping his erection between them.  
“And I haven’t…I mean, it’s been a really long time since…”  
“I’ll be gentle,” he smiled and rocked against her.  
“You’re going to have to be,” she said and looked down at his cock. “I know they say size doesn’t matter, but I say that I’m a very lucky woman.”  
Her eyes danced over his face playfully and, hell and damnation, he knew that now he was the one who was blushing.  
She took his shaft into her little hand and squeezed.  
“Ohhh,” he moaned and closed his eyes.  
He ran his hand down her body and between her legs.  
She gave herself completely to his gentle exploration, and in the very back of his mind he wondered if he always knew she could be like this with him.  
“You’re so wet, Kathryn,” he whispered and watched her blush. He put two fingers inside of her but pulled them straight back out again. He watched her open her eyes and look at him. Then he brought those fingers up and spread her juices over her lips before kissing her. The taste of her unleashed something in him, and in her it seemed, and next thing he knew she was guiding his cock inside her, and he was thrusting into her like a man possessed.  
“Yes, oh, fuck me,” she cried and spread her legs wider for him. “Oh, you feel so good. Oh God, you feel so good. Oh, fuck.”  
He knew then that this would probably be over before it had really begun, but he decided he couldn’t worry about that. She must have come to the exact same conclusion, because her hand went to her clit.  
“No,” he said and pushed it away. “I am going to make you come, Kathryn. No one else.”  
He pressed down on her clit and she made a noise he’d never heard from her before.  
“Spirits, you drive me crazy,” he said and watched her face.  
“Oh yes, I’m so close, oh God, yes,” she kept telling him, and then he felt it. Felt himself hit the right spot again and again and again, felt her body go completely still, then explode in a myriad of sensations.  
Her inner muscles contracted around him, and he gave her another three, four deep thrusts before he came with a muffled cry and closed his eyes against the white light.  
They lay there, on the floor of her quarters, naked and sated and boneless.  
She traced his arm with one fingertip, and he shivered.  
Then he looked into her eyes and his heart did a strange double take. Funny, he’d always thought he couldn’t love her more. He’d been wrong.  
“You were beautiful,” she whispered.  
“You were beautiful, Kathryn,” he replied, took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist.  
“But I think we have a problem,” she said.  
“You’re not all that into me after all?” he joked, because he suddenly felt sick.  
“No,” she said and laughed. “I’m very much into you. In fact, I’ve never been more into you. Or should I say I’m into you being in me.”  
They chuckled together, and then she shifted with a painful groan.  
“Did I hurt you?” he asked and sat up.  
“Ouch, yes, I’m afraid so,” she said, sat up, too, and stretched her back. “I mean, not directly.”  
She gestured for him to have a look at her back and, apart from that tattoo that was to blame for all of this, really, she also had angry looking abrasions all down her spine.  
“Carpet burn, Commander,” she said and pulled up one eyebrow. “Is it bad?”  
“It’s… Bad,” he stuttered, but when he looked back at her, they laughed.  
“Oh God, help me up,” she said and gave him her hand. He pulled them both to a standing position.  
“Let me take a better look at it under the light, Kathryn.”  
He pulled her gently towards the panel.  
“I think a dermal regenerator would be a good idea.”  
“I don’t have one.”  
“Not even in your secret stash?” he asked and smiled at her. He gently touched her back and she winced. “Go to sickbay, Kathryn, it’ll take two minutes.”  
“And have the doctor lecture me on safe sex?”  
“He doesn’t need to know exactly what caused it,” Chakotay said and kissed her shoulder.  
“How else do people get this kind of carpet burn, Chakotay?”  
“He’s the doctor. It’s not his job to know about these things but to treat the symptoms. Go. I want you again,” he said and pressed his very interested cock into her side.  
“That was quick,” she smirked.  
He walked her backwards until he had her pushed against a bulkhead.  
“I love you, Kathryn Janeway, and I want to make love to you again, and I would like it to take longer than five minutes next time, and as much as I enjoy the thought of you being on top, I’d prefer it if you weren’t in pain.”  
Then he put his mouth over her nipple and flicked his tongue over it.  
“Fine. God! I’m going. Get into my bed, and I’ll be back in five.”  
“Yes ma’am.”  
She put her clothes back on sans underwear and he watched her disappear.  
He ordered two glasses of water and took them through to her bedroom.  
He let himself flop down on the bed.  
“Spirits,” he said. Because, had that really just happened?  
His cock was completely hard again, and he shook his head at it.  
He heard the doors swish open and closed, and then Kathryn appeared in the doorway.  
“So, I have good news and bad news,” she said and took her clothes off again. “The good news is that I’m as good as new,” she said, showed him her gorgeous back, and he ran his fingertips all over it, which made her shiver and her nipples harden.  
“And the bad news?”  
She took a deep breath and giggled. “The bad news is that the doctor was making an alcohol related house call to Ensign Kim, so Lieutenant Paris had to do the honours.”  
She turned and looked at him, biting her lip.  
“Kathryn!” he said and then she exploded with laughter.  
“I’m so sorry, Chakotay, I really am,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I know he’s the greatest gossip in the universe, but not about important things.”  
“I don’t care if the whole universe knows about us,” he said. “But can you stop being naked in front of Tom Paris?”  
“Jealous much, Commander?”  
“You bet. And what did he say when he saw your back?” Chakotay enquired.  
“Nothing. He was the height of professionalism,” she whispered and pushed him down and sat astride him. She circled her hips and looked at him.  
“And then he told me to give my regards to ‘the big guy’.”  
“Kathryn!” was all he could say before she shut him up by kissing him.  
The last coherent thought he had before he surrendered himself completely to their love making was that he would have to give a bloody good talking to to Tom bloody Paris.


End file.
